NEW  SERIES  AUGUST,  1918  NUMBER  42 

BULLETIN 

University  of  Alabama 


MILITARY  TRAINING 

AT 

University  of  Alabama 

I.  RESERVE  OFFICERS  TRAINING  CORPS 

II.  STUDENTS  ARMY  TRAINING  CORPS 

The  purpose  of  these  organizations  according  to  a  statement 
authorized  by  the  War  Department  is  “to  prevent  the  premature  enlist¬ 
ment  for  active  service  of  young  men  who  could  by  extending  the 
period  of  their  college  training  multiply  manifold  their  value  to  the 
country” 

Published  Quarterly  by  the  University 


Entered  at  the  Post  Office,  University,  Alabama  as  Second  Class  Matter. 


Wik^' 

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MILITARY  TRAINING 

AT  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ALABAMA 

Students  who  attend  the  University  of  Alabama  this  fall 
will  have  the  exceptional  opportunity  of  entering  either  of  two 
high  class  military  organizations  established  and  maintained 
here  by  the  federal  government  for  the  purpose  of  preparing 
young  men  for  military  service  while  they  are  receiving  college 
training.  These  organizations  are : 

I.  Reserve  Officers’  Training  Corps. 

II.  Students’  Army  Training  Corps. 

A  full  description  of  these  organizations  follows.  Every 
young  man  who  is  anxious  to  serve  his  country  in  the  most  ef¬ 
fective  way  should  read  these  descriptions  carefully. 

RESERVE  OFFICERS’  TRAINING  CORPS 

A  senior  division  of  the  Reserve  Officers’  Training  Corps 
was  established  by  the  federal  government  two  years  ago  at  the 
University  of  Alabama.  It  is  under  the  supervision  of  a  U.  S. 
Army  officer  and  is  open  to  all  students.  Those  who  elect  this 
course  of  training  are  given  free  uniforms  and  other  necessary 
equipment  during  the  first  two  years,  and  in  addition  to  the 
uniforms,  etc.,  are  paid  $100  per  session  for  board  during  the 
third  and  fourth  years. 

Students  who  make  good  in  military  duties  and  classroom 
studies  and  who  give  promise  of  leadership  through  evidence  of 
faithfulness  to  duty,  promptness  and  general  bearing,  are  eligi¬ 
ble  for  appointment  to  Officers’  Training  Camps,  which  here¬ 
after  will  be  continuously  in  session  in  various  parts  of  the 
country.  At  the  beginning  of  each  month  a  new  class  will  be 
organized  in  these  camps.  This  arrangement  makes  it  possible 
for  qualified  University  students  to  secure  Army  commissions 
even  though  they  have  spent  comparatively  only  a  short  while 
at  the  University  of  Alabmaa. 

No  obligation  to  enlist  in  any  branch  of  the  service  is 
placed  upon  students  who  enroll  for  the  first  two  years  of 
training. 


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STUDENTS’  ARMY  TRAINING  CORPS 


A  Students’  Army  Training  Corps  has  been  established  at 
the  University  of  Alabama  in  accordance  with  a  plan  recently 
submitted  by  Secretary  of  War  Newton  D.  Baker.  The  fol¬ 
lowing  extracts  from  recent  communications  authorized  by 
the  War  Department  set  forth  in  detail  the  reasons  for  this 
action. 

To  assist  in  giving  military  training  to  those^  enrolled  in 
this  Corps,  the  War  Department  recently  selected  32  young 
men  from  the  University  of  Alabama  contingent  at  the  Summer 
Training  Camp  at  Fort  Sheridan,  Illinois,  and  ordered  them  to 
remain  there  two  months  longer  for  additional  instruction. 
These  highly  trained  young  men  will  return  to  the  University 
of  Alabama  in  time  for  their  new  duties  at  the  opening  of  the 
regular  session.  ■ 

PURPOSE 

“The  purpose  of  the  War  Department  in  establishing  the 
Students’  Army  Training  Corps  is  to  provide  for  the  very  im¬ 
portant  needs  of  the  army  for  highly  trained  men  as  officers, 
Engineers,  doctors,  chemists,  and  administrators  of  every  kind. 
The  importance  of  this  need  can  not  be  too  strongly  empha¬ 
sized.  The  plan  is  an  attempt  to  mobilize  and  develop  the 
brain  power  of  the  young  men  of  the  country  for  these  services 
which  demand  special  training.  Its  object  is  to  prevent  the 
premature  enlistment  for  active  service  of  these  men  who  could 
by  extending  the  period  of  their  college  training  multiply  mani¬ 
fold  their  value  to  the  country.  If,  however,  the  need  arises 
for  the  services  of  these  men  in  the  fighting  line,  the  terms  of 
their  enlistment  are  such  that  they  can  be  called  by  the  Presi¬ 
dent  on  a  day’s  notice.  For  the  present  it  will  be  the  policy  of 
the  Government  to  keep  them  in  training  until  their  draft  age 
is  reached. 


ARMY  NEEDS  TRAINED  MEN 

“This  is  a  war  in  which  soldiers  are  not  only  marksmen, 
but  also  engineers,  chemists,  physicists,  geologists,  doctors  and 
specialists  in  many  other  lines.  Scientific  training  is  indis¬ 
pensable.  Engineering  skill  is  needed  by  the  officers  who  direct 

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every  important  military  operation  and  who  control  our  lines 
of  transport  and  communication.  In  the  same  way  chemical 
and  physical  knowledge  are  in  constant  demand  at  the  front  as 
well  as  behind  the  lines,  while  the  task  of  saving  the  lives  and 
restoring  the  heakh  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  wounded 
calls  for  the  services  of  regiments  of  military  physicians.  The 
scientific  training  which  prepares  a  man  to  fulfill  one  of  these 
highly  specialized  duties  and  the  more  liberal  training  which 
helps  to  develop  the  qualities  of  leadership  needed  by  the  officer 
or  administrator  are  essential  elements  of  military  efficiency. 

WHO  MAY  ENUST 

“For  the  purpose  of  developing  men  who  shall  have  this 
combination  of  military  and  intellectual  training  a  new  corps 
has  been  created  in  the  army,  to  be  called  the  Students’  Army 
Training  Corps.  Voluntary  enlistment  in  this  Corps  is  open  to 
all  able-bodied  students  in  the  institutions  of  collegiate  grade 
who  are  not  under  i8  years  of  age.  Students  under  ip  cannot 
be  legally  enlisted,  but  they  may  enroll  and  thus  receive  military 
training  until  they  reach  the  age  when  they  can  legally  enlist.^' 

STATUS  OF  A  STUDENT  ENLISTED  IN  THE 
STUDENTS’  ARMY  TRAINING  CORPS. 

“A  student  enlisted  in  the  Students’  Army  Training  Corps 
is  in  military  service  of  the  United  States.  Because  he  does 
not  receive  pay,  he  is  classed  as  on  inactive  service  but  in  a 
national  emergency  the  President  may  call  him  at  any  time  to 
active  service.  He  is  called  to  active  service  each  summer 
when  he  attends  camp  for  six  weeks  and  receives  the  pay  of  a 
private. 

''His  relation  to  the  draft  is  as  follows: 

“Any  student  so  enlisted,  though  in  the  military  service  of 
the  United  States,  is  technically  on  inactive  duty,  and  therefore 
must  register  after  he  had  reached  draft  age  and  upon  notice 
by  the  President.  Upon  stating  on  his  questionnaire  that  he  is 
already  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States,  he  will  be 
placed  automatically  by  his  local  Draft  Board  in  Class  V-D,  as 
provided  by  the  Selective  Service  regulations.  The  Draft 
Board  will  not  call  him  for  induction  so  long  as  he  remains  a 
member  of  the  Students'  Army  Training  Corps. 

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3  01 

SELECTIVE  SERVICE 

“In  order  that  the  college  student  may  not  even  appear  to 
enjoy  special  privileges,  it  is  agreed,  however,  that  when  the 
day  arrives  on  which  according  to  his  order  number  he  would 
hae  been  drafted,  had  he  not  already  volunteered,  the  fact  is 
reported  to  the  President  of  the  college,  and  to  the  Command¬ 
ing  Officer  at  the  college,  who  in  turn  reports  it  to  the  Adjutant 
General.  This  is  the  day  of  reckoning  for  the  college  man. 
The  President  of  the  college  and  the  Commanding  Officer  will 
then  report  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Education 
and  Special  Training  of  the  War  Department,  for  what  form 
of  military  service  the  individual  is  in  their  judgment  best 
qualified.  They  will  recommend  either  that  the  student  should 
continue  his  studies  to  prepare  for  work  in  medicine,  engineer¬ 
ing,  chemistry,  psychology,  economics,  etc.,  or  that  he  should 
go  at  once  to  an  officers’  training  camp  to  prepare  for  an  of¬ 
ficers’  commission  in  the  infantry,  artillery,  etc.,  or  that  he 
should  he  assigned  to  work  in  the  ordnance,  quartermaster  or 
other  Staff  Corps  or  sent  immediately  to  a  division  at  one  of 
the  camps.  Lieut  Col.  Rees,  commander  of  the  entire  Stu¬ 
dents’  Corps,  has  authority  to  dispose  his  men  in  the  way  best 
suited  to  meet  the  emergencies  of  the  military  and  national 
situation  at  the  time.  The  presumption  is  that,  for  the  next 
year,  the  largest  proportion  of  the  student  body  reaching 
twenty-one  years  will  be  required  to  supply  a  large  part  of  the 
officers  needed  for  the  national  army.  It  is  understood  that  at 
least  four  or  five  times  as  many  officers  will  be  required  as  the 
total  number  of  students  who  will  graduate  from  all  American 
colleges  and  universities.  Enlistment  in  the  Students’  Army 
Training  Corps,  therefore,  while  it  does  not  hold  out  any  pro¬ 
mise  of  an  officer’s  commission,  is  at  the  present  time  the  plain¬ 
est  road  leading  in  that  direction. 

RESULT  OF  FAILURE  TO  PROFIT  FROM  TRAINING 

“The  student  who  shows  no  ability  for  special  service  in 
his  college  and  military  work  will  be  ordered  into  active  service 
as  a  private  when  his  day  of  reckoning  comes.  Enlistment  is 
for  the  duration  of  the  war.  If,  however,  the  student  fails  to 
improve  his  college  opportunities,  he  may  be  dismissed  from 

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